IClaudius7

I watched this version to see if would come up to the version done by Armand Assante and Greta Scacchi in 1997 for TV as a miniseries. This version with two fine actors, Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, just did NOT cut it. Frankly, I expected more and got less.

There was a more realistic take on the soldier who left home for war and glory and came back questioning why he left for 20 years. The 1997 version asked fundamental questions like why were the suitors of Penelope were hanging around long enough to incur the wrath of Odysseus, and his justifiable rage of being eaten out of house and home. To make a long story short, they neglected to tell folks just what happened to delay him. Trust me see both versions together but if you must chose one, see the 1997 version instead. N.

Giving this film a 6.8 is a travesty. Just somewhere in the 7.0 + range is fair. It took a lot of work to be creative enough to use the clips in a cogent enough manner before widespread use of CGI to get a reasonable enough length for a feature film.

Hats off to Steve Martin, and Rachel Ward to act around archival footage clips of classic noir films. Loved the concept and the execution to get a useable feature film. Hats off the Carl Reiner for writing and directing such a film. It was Edith Head's last film and that alone should get it into 7.0 + range. I saw it shortly after it first came out.

I enjoyed it immensely seeing it again on TCM on demand.